The ALAN PARSONS PROJECT - The Definitive Collection - 1977 - 1997 - 20bit Remaster - @ 320

GREAT PARSONS COLLECTION

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Disc: 1

1. I Robot - 6:06
2. I Wouldn't Want To Be Like You - 3:19
3. Breakdown - 3:50
4. Don't Let It Show - 3:50
5. Voyager - 2:24
6. What Goes Up - 3:31
7. The Eagle Will Rise Again - 4:38
8. Can't Take It With You - 5:05
9. Pyramania - 2:45
10. Damned If I Do - 4:53
11. Lucifer - 5:08
12. If I Could Change Your Mind - 5:49
13. The Turn Of A Friendly Card (Part I) - 2:38
14. Snake Eyes - 3:10
15. Games People Play - 4:14
16. Time - 5:08


Disc: 2

1. Sirius - 1:53
2. Eye In The Sky - 4:36
3. Psychobabble - 4:51
4. Mammagamma - 3:34
5. Old And Wise - 4:51
6. Prime Time - 5:03
7. Don't Answer Me - 4:11
8. You Don't Believe - 4:26
9. Let's Talk About Me - 4:22
10. Days Are Numbers (The Traveller) - 4:02
11. Stereotomy - 7:15
12. In The Real World - 4:17
13. Standing On Higher Ground - 5:02
14. Too Late - 5:55
15. Turn It Up - 5:32
16. Re-Jigue - 2:49

Total time: 2:20:08

Musicians:

Alan Parsons - keyboards, production, engineering
Eric Woolfson - keyboards, executive production
Andrew Powell - keyboards, orchestral arrangements
Ian Bairnson - guitars
David Paton (1975-1985); Laurie Cottle (1985-1987) - bass
Stuart Tosh (1975-1977); Stuart Elliott (1977-1987) - drums, percussion
Mel Collins (1980-1984); Richard Cottle (1984-1987) - saxophones, keyboards
Eric Woolfson, Lenny Zakatek, John Miles, Chris Rainbow, Colin Blunstone, David Paton - vocals

As a man who worked behind the scenes on both the Beatles' Abbey Road and Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon, Alan Parsons certainly earned his reputation for being a producer and engineer with vision. Parsons applied that same sense of vision to his self-named solo project, which featured a revolving cast of musicians and vocalists. Though the music of the Alan Parsons Project can be classified as soft rock, and its accessible melodies and lush arrangements made it a perfect match for pop radio in the 1970s and '80s, it's also progressive, conceptual, and highly sophisticated.

The Definitive Collection is a carefully selected and assembled two-disc set that represents the range and precision of Parsons music from the '70s to the mid-'90s. His early work, inspired by science fiction and progressive rock, favored synth-heavy instrumentals. At the turn of the '80s, Parsons was leaning toward a more pop-friendly sound (as evidenced by the hits "Time" and "Eye in the Sky," both of which are included here), yet this material sacrifices none of his high-minded aesthetic, a trademark of his sound that continued into the '90s. As an overview of Parsons's career, and as a primer for anyone interested in the art rock of the period, The Definitive Collection is indispensable. Highly recommended.

PORCUPINE TREE - Fear of a Blank Planet (2007)

1. Fear of a Blank Planet (7:28)
2. My Ashes (5:07)
3. Anesthetize (17:42)
4. Sentimental (5:26)
5. Way Out of Here (7:37)
6. Sleep Together (7:28)

Total Time: 50:08

Musicians

- Steven Wilson / vocals, guitar, piano
- Richard Barbieri / keyboards, synthesizers
- Colin Edwin / bass guitar
- Gavin Harrison / drums & percussion

Guest appearances:
- Alex Lifeson / guitar solo (3)
- Robert Fripp / soundscapes (5)
- John Wesley / backing vocals

Review from progarchives.com:

There is music. And there's music with substance. Music which, from feeling to feeling, touches our soul, even for a glimpse. Music to be loved. Art. How many artists can we say, 18 years later, to have sensibility to build, one after another, true odes to Human Feeling. And so, this is no immediate music. This can only fully be understood by a focused commitment, a strong and willed desire to understand, to seek for the inconspicuous beauty on it. The album is one of the most cohesive and intense albums Porcupine Tree have ever made, flowing, from piece to piece, to a glorious 50 minute journey of self consciousness and liberation.

10 year-old kid. "The pills that I've been taking confuse me". Pills for emptiness. Futility. Ephemeral. All the drugs that seem to take out the humanity in us, which make we forgot that the most beautiful is not what is seen, but indeed what it is felt. And in this way the title track flows, an energetic and blasting convincing rock opener, resembling the mood of "Deadwing" track: anger-climax-peace, with some psychedelic piano paintings in the middle. But the album then evolutes to a different kind of feeling, different from the overall nostalgic, sad, quasi-romantic feeling of its predecessor. Strings put "My Ashes", a sweet quasi-acoustic layered track, to an ethereal level, elevated by the kid's comprehension that part of him is empty "And my ashes find a way beyond the fog, and return to save the child that I forgot...". And then the album flows into its art peak. All the subtle feeling, all the utterly blistering sonic rock power blended in one song. Anesthetize. Memorable refrains, impressive riffs (with some touch of post-metal), disturbing soundscapes, splendid cascades of celestial backing vocals and even ethereal zen moments, all together fueled by some precious moments like "You were stolen... there's black across the Sun...". It ends. Terrifying, only 17 minutes? Next one, Sentimental. Sentimental is the moment to cry. All the emotions evoked until now explode in the piano-laid dreamy guitar tone of the track: "I've wasted my life... I'm hurting inside...". No excesses or dramas, just feeling as the way it is. Time to recover is not encountered on "Way Out of Here", another moving track, with some anger explosions, leaded by its disturbing soundscapes, marking bass lines and with the delicious original guitar solo. And then it comes the last track, "Sleep Together". Class. The band had reinvented themselves again. They did what it seemed impossible. To fuse perfectly the most bizarre and psychic electronic industrial a la Nine Inch Nails with the most majestic symphonic arrangements. The album ends in a cathartic explosion of strings. We're literally disintegrated in particles, voyaging through the cosmos infinitude. "Let's leave forever". Leave forever. Forever from this, many times, inhuman place we call Earth.

Then the album ends. We're shocked. We want more. And then we put the album from the beginning. Feel, cry and leave again. Like we were in an intense and beautiful dream. The dream of escaping from this blank society, in which we assist growingly to the terrifying indifference of pointing a gun, of causing suffering, of killing. Lives guided by destruction.

This is truly one 50-minutes piece track, divided in 6 movements. These movements seem to obey almost perfectly to the Freud's sequence of the human behavior after a shock: denial/rage -> consciousness -> depression -> motivation to change -> liberation. This understanding transform the album perception in an disturbing and dramatic voyage to a stereotyped kid's ego.

And so, this album was made to represent the manifest against the emptiness that plagues humanity. Steven Wilson has the power to touch people. Every single album of the band has its own feeling. I still can't resume what I feel in this album. But it feels a lot... Masterpiece.

Is there anybody out there?

Any of the old readers still around?

3 - Wake Pig - 2004

Not quite Prog in my book but imagine
if TOOL were trying to be more progressive.

I've been intending to post this for weeks so...
Here it is, Enjoy!

THIS IS A KICK BUTT ALBUM
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Don't be fooled by the name here as this band has nothing to do with the similar named outfit which includes Robert Berry, Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer. Instead you are witnessing the birth of one hell of a band. The NY-based fivepiece got together in the mid- '90s, although it took them until 2000 before Planet Noise Records released their debut CD, the 14-track sporting Paint By Number. Three years later Summer Camp Nightmare was released resulting in a joint tour with fellow NY based rockers Coheed and Cambria. In 2004 the album Wake Pig was issued once again by Planet Noise Records raising the interest of Metal Blade Records who signed the band in 2005. The first release for their new label is this version of Wake Pig which has made it to "album of the week" on On The Rocks [Bobo's radio show - ed.].

The new release sports new artwork, new lyrics, two new songs, a couple of remixes and Max's vocals added to the song "Where's Max?"

3 is one of the upcoming new bands that combine all kinds of authentic rock, prog and highly technical approaches, which they make available through an underground network resulting in over 121,000 downloads at purevolume.com and over 27,000 plays at myspace.com. Every single composition on this disc is a real treat, whether it's the singing, the interplay, the high level of production or the final result. I have listened to this album at least ten times over and instead of just picking one or two songs out, I have to listen to the entire album from beginning to end time and time again.

There's this kind of commercial quality in the voice of Joey Eppard which combined with the superb backing by the other four musicians might well land this band major success in years to come. I'm convinced they are as catchy as Green Day, Good Charlotte and Alien Ant Farm all put together mixed with the technical quality of Liquid Tension Experiment, OSI and Dream Theater. Just take one slice of the "3" cake such as "Bramfatura" which contains plenty of energy before a Spanish acoustic guitar solo concludes it all. It's daring yet refreshing but above all absolute top quality.

I hear snippets of Spock's Beard flirting with King's X, I hear refreshing vocals reminiscent of Rembrandts or Dylans, I hear stunning compositions which stand shoulder to shoulder with the best Dream Theater recordings, I hear quality musicianship which could rival jambands such as Phish or Umphrey's McGee, I hear commercial twists that were once the trademark of bands like Styx and Kansas. 3 is a bunch of young guys who can enter the world of the younger music lover who detests having to listen to the "old farts" that have been crowding the music industry too long, regardless of their rock 'n' roll merits. Not afraid to also emphasize the acoustic nature of music, with Wake Pig this band has delivered one of the best albums of the year. There is not one track on this album I don't like, which is something that doesn't happen frequently. Wake Pig contains thirteen songs I love and that could feature on any radio station wherever in the world at whatever time. I'm already counting the days to see the band perform live. For those of you who still need a Christmas present, go out and buy two copies: one to giftwrap and one for yourself, because no other gift will give you the satisfaction this album does. Fan-tas-tic!!!
Reviewed by: John "Bo Bo" Bollenberg - progressiveworld.net


Track Listing:

1. Alien Angel - 3:45
2. Monster - 2:37
3. Dregs - 3:23
4. Wake Pig - 3:14
5. Bramfatura - 1:40
6. Trust - 4:09
7. Dogs Of War - 4:17
8. Soul To Sell - 2:34
9. One Way Town - 5:13
10. Queen - 3:33
11. Circus Without Clowns - 4:18
12. Where's Max - 2:17
13. Amaze Disgrace - 16:24

Players:

Joey Eppard - vocals, acoustic and electric guitars
Chris Gartmann - drums, backing vocals
Billy Riker - guitars, strange effects
Joe Stote - percussion, keyboards
Daniel Grimsland - bass

Hiatus

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